


Tomorrow has Monsters

by SweetSorcery



Series: Journey's End [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst and Humor, Cuddling and Snuggling, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Kissing, M/M, Pajamas & Sleepwear, Romance, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-14
Updated: 2011-08-14
Packaged: 2017-10-22 14:38:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/239123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetSorcery/pseuds/SweetSorcery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The impending first task leads to insomnia among the Hogwarts champions. And for at least one of them, the proximity of the other isn't helping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tomorrow has Monsters

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: All canon referred to within belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Raincoast Books, Warner Bros. Inc., and possibly others. Non-canon bits were created for non-profit, non-infringement entertainment.
> 
> Archiving: Absolutely nowhere please, not even in translated form.
> 
> Author's Notes: This was written in December 2005.

It was the night before the first task, and the Triwizard champions had been summoned to a tent on the far reaches of the castle grounds. There, they were to prepare themselves, rest, gather their energies and focus on the difficult challenge ahead without distractions.

Fleur had looked a little sick and refused all of the delicious cold dishes the house elves had unpacked; she had opted to vanish behind her curtained sleeping area and go to bed right away. Viktor had eaten enough for all four of them, and with a great deal of noise; after this, he went outside for a short walk and then came back to lie down and ponder. Or meditate. Or probably, to simply brood. Either way, he disappeared into his own chamber and did not come out again.

Neither Cedric nor Harry noticed. They were both lost in thought, nibbling at their dinners listlessly, their eyes meeting anxiously every once in a while over plates which refused to clear themselves.

When the house elves popped in half an hour later, looking disappointed that three of the plates were still full, the two Hogwarts champions exchanged a quick glance and forced themselves to eat a few more bites to appease them. The elves left a lot happier with a few snaps of their tiny fingers.

"I suppose we should--" Cedric started.

"Might as well--" Harry said at the same time.

Cedric gave a quick smile. "Sorry. You were saying?"

Harry returned it. "I was going to say we might as well try and get whatever sleep we can."

Cedric looked at him for a minute, then shook himself as if he'd been drifting. "That's more or less what I was going to say." He stood up and stretched. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Night, Cedric."

Cedric wandered to his compartment of the tent, hung up his school cloak, and retrieved a bag from under the bed. After an inscrutable glance back at Harry, he closed the curtains before getting changed.

Harry, who had been watching him absently, sighed and decided to follow his example. He moved behind his own curtained section, right next to Cedric's, closed the drapes, and changed into a blue T-Shirt and striped pyjama pants while muttering a few appropriate cleaning and tooth-brushing spells.

Then he spelled the lights off and lay down. And waited for sleep to come. He counted sheep. Then owls. Then brooms. Then wizards on brooms. And finally, when he had counted over 500 dragons chasing wizards on brooms, he gave up. With a sigh, he sat up straight, drawing his knees up under the thin blanket and resting his head on them.

"Harry?" came a hushed whisper from nearby.

Harry looked up. "Cedric, is that you?"

"Yes." Rummaging was followed by the smooth rustle of cotton sheets, and then the sound of bare feet padding along the ground towards the thinner curtain separating their compartments. "Hope you don't mind, but I heard you moving about. I can't sleep either."

Harry looked towards the curtain even though he couldn't see a thing in the dark and without his glasses. "I'm not keeping you awake, am I?"

A pause. "No. No, you're not. Nerves are keeping me awake, I'm afraid."

"Same here," Harry admitted. "Did you want to come over? I mean, we could just sit and talk or something. I do that with Ron when we're not tired enough to sleep."

There was some movement which fanned the curtain slightly. "Yeah, that's a good idea. Won't end up waking Viktor and Fleur that way." The feet were moving a little further away.

Harry flicked on the small lamp next to the bed, put on his glasses, and a moment later, Cedric poked his head in. "You're sure you don't mind?"

Harry shook his head. "It's fine. Come in."

Cedric nodded and stepped inside, dressed in plain but well-cut scarlet pyjamas which looked really rather good on him.

"You look like you're secretly rooting for Gryffindor," Harry said with a smirk.

Cedric looked down at himself and chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose I do." Then he let the curtain fall shut behind him and stood about as if unsure what to do next.

Harry drew his knees up higher. "Sit down," he said, nodding to the foot of the bed.

Cedric settled down on the very edge of it. "So, dragons," he said awkwardly. "Thank you for telling me, by the way, Harry."

"You've already thanked me," Harry said. "But thank you for making them stop wearing the badges."

Cedric grinned. "That was a bit childish. Besides, it's not as if you put your name in the goblet."

Harry's eyes widened. "You actually believe me."

A small frown drew together Cedric's distinctive eyebrows. "Of course. You couldn't have, even if you'd wanted to."

Harry grit his teeth. "Tell that to Ron."

"Ron Weasley doesn't believe you didn't enter your name?" Cedric asked, surprised. "But I thought he was your--" He bit his lip to silence himself when he saw the pain in Harry's eyes.

Harry just shook his head, his throat suddenly tight. He hadn't realised until then how much it hurt that Ron didn't believe him. He just hoped Cedric wouldn't say anything more about it.

As if reading his mind, Cedric took a deep breath. "Anyway, I wonder what kinds of dragons we'll get." Grateful for the change of subject, Harry told him what little he'd seen. "It would be really bad to end up with the Hungarian Horntail," Cedric pondered. "They're vicious."

"I don't imagine the other three are exactly pussycats," Harry said.

Cedric laughed softly. "Oh, I don't know, Harry. Let's just say that if the second task is a face off with Mrs Norris, I'm going to be really worried."

Harry imagined battling Filch's ruddy cat in a pit in front of the entire school and snorted with laughter. "Could be worse. Could be Filch."

Cedric jumped straight in, "It'll be a battle with Filch for the paw of Mrs Norris." Even while Harry's face turned red with stifled laughter, he went on, "They are inseparable, you know. It forms bonds, spending all those nights on patrol together. Have you seen the sheep's eyes he makes at that cat? Bleh!" He shuddered.

Harry was laughing so hard by then, he barely managed to raise his hands like a shield. "Cedric, stop! Shut up." When Cedric opened his mouth to continue, Harry shook his head frantically. "We'll wake the others up. And I don't want to try and explain about Filch and his cat in either French or Bulgarian."

"Nor in English either." Cedric's nose crinkled with disgust, but a moment later he was laughing with Harry again.

Harry wiped tears from behind his glasses because Cedric had gone all blurry. That thought made him laugh even harder.

"You're worse than a Hufflepuff, Harry," Cedric grinned. "You know it's impossible to study in our common room. Someone's always having a fit of the giggles."

"With you around, I'm not surprised." Harry beamed at Cedric. "Guess that sorting hat put me in the wrong house after all. It did say it was a difficult thing, but it was swinging towards Slytherin."

Cedric tilted his head at Harry with a grin. "Your eyes would certainly match the décor." When Harry gaped at him with said eyes wide and astonished, he quickly added, "And you're also clever, cunning and inherently graceful. I can see that."

Harry was more than a little embarrassed about being complimented. But he grinned when he said, "I don't know about that inherent grace. You do know Goyle and Crabbe, right?"

Cedric laughed out loud. "There are always exceptions. But I've seen you flying, remember? And swimming. And... well, anyway." Busy wondering when Cedric would have taken note of stuff like that, and what exactly anyway meant, Harry almost missed his next words. "But I still say you'd make a really good Hufflepuff, and not just because of the giggling. You play fair and you're loyal."

Harry was glad he was still flushed red from before. It saved the embarrassment of flushing all over again. "Thanks," he said, ducking his head coyly.

"Most people wouldn't think it an honour to be in Hufflepuff," Cedric said thoughtfully and without resentment.

"Most people are idiots," Harry simply stated.

Cedric looked very pleased at that. And he continued to just look at Harry with soft grey eyes for quite a while until it started to feel a little odd.

Harry cleared his throat, tugging at the collar of his T-Shirt. "Um..."

"If you're tired now, Harry, I can leave," Cedric suggested, looking a little anxious and motioning to get up.

"No!" Harry said quickly, actually reaching out his arm towards Cedric before quickly drawing it back. "Erm... I mean, no, I'm not. Stay if you like."

Cedric smiled. "I do like." He shivered.

"Are you cold?" Harry frowned. It was a pretty crisp night, and he felt it even though he was under a thin duvet.

"I'm fine, really." Cedric tried hard to look comfortable, but he was definitely unusually hunched over, and his hands were surreptitiously rubbing his arms.

"Rubbish." Harry flipped back his duvet and shifted to the far left of the bed. "Get in."

Cedric blushed. "No. I... I couldn't. Really, Harry."

Harry frowned. "I don't fancy getting blamed for letting the true Hogwarts champion die, you know."

Cedric laughed. "Well, if you put it that way." He grew serious. "Not that I'm--"

Harry mock-glared at him. "Yes, you are. And we both know it. Get in."

Cedric quirked an embarrassed smile and quickly scrambled into the bed to sit next to Harry, who threw the blanket back over them both. "Thanks, Harry."

"That's okay."

Cedric carefully kept his distance, sitting at the far right of the bed. "So, do you know how you're going to fight your dragon yet?" he asked.

"I was thinking of summoning my broom when things get hairy."

"You mean fiery." Cedric chuckled. "Yeah, that should do it. You're a brilliant flyer."

Harry blushed, but because they were both facing forward, he hoped Cedric would not notice. "What are you going to do?"

"Wish I knew." Cedric sighed. "I'm pretty good at Charms and Transfigurations. I guess I'll be throwing a few nasty hexes at it while transfiguring something into something useful."

"Bit vague," Harry said softly.

Cedric looked at him. "I know. Haven't come up with anything better yet." He noticed Harry chewing his lip. "What's the matter?"

Harry turned slightly to face him. "It's just... well, I don't want you getting... singed."

A pleased little smile bloomed on Cedric's lips. "You're concerned for me?"

Harry's blush returned full force. "Of course," he muttered, lowering his eyes. "And for Fleur and Viktor, obviously. But you're the Hogwarts champion."

"I'm _a_ Hogwarts champion," Cedric corrected.

Harry shrugged. "Well, anyway. Yes, I'm concerned." He averted his eyes.

"Don't be embarrassed," Cedric said softly. "I'm concerned for you too."

"You are?"

Cedric frowned. "Does that surprise you so, Harry?"

Harry looked at Cedric long and hard - at his gentle grey eyes and the soft curve of his mouth, at his handsome and kind face and open expression. "No, not really," he finally said with a smile. Cedric smiled back at him. Finding it awkward and rather painful for his neck to keep talking to Cedric sideways, Harry deposited his glasses back on the bedside table and lay down on his side facing him instead, supporting himself on his elbow.

Cedric mirrored his pose, snuggling under the blanket. "Nice and warm in here."

"That was the idea." Harry said, even as he was beginning to think that as ideas went, this might not have been such a great one. It seemed oddly intimate to be lying so close to another boy; and oddly right to be lying so close to Cedric. He didn't remember ever feeling quite this way before. Then again, he didn't remember finding anyone as comfortable and fun to be with as the Hufflepuff, his long-time friends aside. Right now, he felt closer to Cedric than to them; he was just so easy to talk to and so understanding. And so very nice.

Cedric didn't say anything for a little while as if giving Harry time to think about him. He just looked at the younger boy from less than two feet away. Eventually, he swallowed audibly and murmured, "I've never seen you without your glasses."

Harry grinned. "It's really uncomfortable lying on a pillow with them on."

"I can imagine." Cedric looked thoughtful. "You know, they really suit you, but it's a pity--" He stopped, lowering his eyes.

"What's a pity?" Harry tilted his head to try and meet Cedric's gaze again.

"Never mind." A coy smile. "Can you see me like that, by the way?"

Laughing out loud, Harry said, "I'm not entirely blind. Just very nearly."

Cedric grinned. "Sorry to hear that. Just wondering, that's all."

Harry frowned. "Well, to be honest - I can sort of see you. Your face is a bit of a blur, I admit."

"I hate being a blur." Harry laughed. "Here, give me your hand," Cedric said.

Harry let him lift his hand from the mattress and watched with a smile as Cedric pulled it towards his face. He thought he should probably find this weird, but it made him tingle to have Cedric hold his hand; he just hoped Cedric wouldn't notice anything off.

"Forehead - here." Cedric touched Harry's fingers to the centre of his forehead.

Harry unsuccessfully stifled his laughter.

"Nose - here." Fingers to the tip of his nose. "Chin - here. Mouth..." Cedric pressed Harry's fingers against the centre of his bottom lip.

Harry held his breath. "Here?" he whispered. He'd never touched another boy's mouth, in any way, and was surprised how soft and smooth Cedric's lips felt.

"Yes," Cedric whispered back, and the warmth of his breath shivered down the length of Harry's fingers.

The shiver continued on, because Harry could feel it travelling right down to his toes. It occurred to him that this was what he was supposed to feel like touching a girl. He really didn't know whether he would, but he knew he felt it with Cedric. He swallowed, deciding to test things further unless Cedric stopped him. He withdrew his hand from Cedric's reluctantly, surprised to see how disappointed Cedric looked, and then how pleased when he touched his fingers to Cedric's face. "Cheek," he said softly.

"Yes."

He slid them down past Cedric's smooth jaw. "Neck."

Cedric was barely breathing. "Ah... yes."

Harry shifted a little closer, flattening his palm against Cedric's neck, delighted that it caused a noticeable shiver. He moved his hand under Cedric's thick, clean brown locks. "Hair," he whispered.

"So it is," Cedric rasped. "Harry, you... Um... you might want to--"

"So soft," Harry said huskily, sounding at once enthralled and surprised. "Mine's not. I didn't think any boy had hair this soft."

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "Oh."

Harry's eyes were fixed on Cedric's. "Feel for yourself."

Cedric lifted his hand and touched it to the side of Harry's head. He squeezed a strand of thick, night-dark hair in his palm. "I think your hair is perfect." His voice held a tremble.

Suddenly finding it hard to breathe, Harry swallowed. He was actually close enough to Cedric now to see him very well. "I think yours is too." He combed his fingers through Cedric's hair experimentally, letting the silky strands brush the soft spaces between them. All the while, he continued to stare at Cedric. "But your eyes are even more perfect." He leaned closer as if to make quite sure.

Swallowing, Cedric tilted his head back a little, but his hand was still in Harry's hair and his treacherous fingers had begun to caress the soft skin behind his ear.

Harry made a sound much like a purr, but Cedric was feeling far too scattered to take the opportunity for another Mrs Norris joke. And then his mind shut off altogether when Harry copied his caress, then moved his hand down to the nape of his neck.

Because Cedric had been leaning back further and further, desperate to keep some space between them, this additional move unbalanced them enough to have Cedric tipping over on his back with Harry leaning over him, looking down at him.

"Harry," Cedric said softly. "We shouldn't. I mean, we can't do... anything."

"I'm just looking at you," Harry replied with deceptive innocence in his voice, even while his eyes were positively alight. "What's wrong with that?" His fingers brushed along the base of Cedric's throat, along the unbuttoned collar of his pyjamas, trailing his partially exposed collarbones on the way.

Cedric shivered, his eyes closing and his neck arching. When he regained his bearings, he gasped, "You definitely should be in Slytherin."

Harry looked down at him with a touch of desperation. "Do you want me to stop?"

Cedric covered Harry's hand with his own, and by pressing it down against his chest, gave away how furiously his heart was beating. "No, Harry." He hated to chase the happiness from Harry's face. "But you must."

Lowering his lashes, Harry couldn't help but look at Cedric's beautiful lips. So soft, so inviting. "I'm only just finding out that I..." He meant to say 'might like boys', but instead, he said the truth. "Like you." He swallowed, the sight of those lips so very close making it hard to form words. "I mean, really, really like you. And want to kiss you." He inhaled sharply. "So much."

Cedric's heart skipped, then continued on even faster. "God, Harry. I... Don't do this to me. I was okay to just look at you. From a distance." And more softly, "And think about you."

Harry's eyes met Cedric's, and there was a fire in them that was quite impossible to douse with the warmth in Cedric's eyes. "What exactly did you think? About me, I mean," he murmured.

A broken little laugh issued from Cedric's lips and Harry licked his own to taste the warmth of it; they were that close. "Ask me in a couple of years, Harry."

Harry's eyes narrowed a little. "I didn't just imagine you blushing every time we meet then?"

Cedric looked caught and more than a little embarrassed. "Um, no, I'm afraid not." He blushed then, too, very glad that Harry was not a legilimens, because he would know exactly what there was to blush about. But legilimens or not, an unholy smile blossomed on Harry's lips. It worried Cedric. Unfortunately, it also made every inch of his skin tingle. "Harry, no," he said a little desperately, hoping it would be enough to deter Harry.

It was not. "Yes," came the much more firm, determined response. And Harry leaned down until Cedric could feel the ghost of his lips against his own.

"No," he whispered, even while he angled his head and released Harry's hand, which immediately buried itself in his hair again.

"Oh yes," Harry breathed, and the sound tingled on the soft, lush flesh of Cedric's lips.

Cedric barely resisted flicking out his tongue to stop the tingling; it would have just as likely caressed Harry's lips a mere inch away. "No." It was a pathetic whimper.

Too pathetic to stop Harry. "Mmm... yes." And then he kissed Cedric.

It started as a careful, inexperienced meeting of dry, tightly closed lips, and it might have been over very quickly if Harry had been less determined and Cedric made of stone.

But Cedric's mouth softened and opened under Harry's lips, and Harry's own followed the example, and there was minty toothpaste and sweet breath and little gasps, and they swapped them back and forth until Cedric could stand it no more. He slipped his tongue carefully into Harry's mouth, seeking to touch warm wetness in return, but Harry misunderstood and closed his lips a little instead, suckling on his tongue.

With a groan, Cedric raised the arm not trapped against his body and wrapped it around the younger boy's slender waist. He raised his head off the pillow and pushed upwards, allowing Harry to draw his tongue more deeply into his mouth, and slowly tipped their balance until Harry was on his back, and he was leaning over him. His hand moved under Harry's nape, and he kissed him furiously.

Harry struggled to keep up, struggled to keep conscious even. The buttons of Cedric's pyjama top were digging into his chest through his thin T-Shirt, and it felt wonderful. Cedric's palm was clutching the back of his neck so tightly it almost hurt, and that felt wonderful too. And Cedric's arm around his middle, his warm palm in the small of Harry's back... wonderful. Wonderful. He might have murmured the word into Cedric's mouth, but there was no room for speaking. Or breathing. Their tongues battled feverishly, brushing back and forth alongside each other, being sucked on, hard, in turns. It was wet and strange and so very, very...

Harry struggled to free his arms to reach up and around Cedric's neck. He bucked upwards, groaning, but was pressed back down by Cedric's weight on his chest. He tried to shift sideways, push up against Cedric head to toe, but to his frustration, Cedric didn't allow it, angling his hips away and keeping Harry's legs pinned to the bed with one long, slender calf.

Harry tore his mouth away, gasping, "Please!"

But Cedric only shook his head, leaning down to kiss him again, more gently now, closing Harry's lips little by little, his tongue retreating and not allowing Harry's to follow, his mouth covering Harry's softly and almost soothingly until the kiss petered out slowly.

Whimpering at the final loss of contact, Harry stared up at him with equal measures of heat and accusation in his eyes. "Cedric!"

"Hush, Harry." Cedric smiled regretfully, brushing the hair back from Harry's temples, leaning down to press a soft kiss to the tip of his nose. "If you were wearing your glasses, they'd be all steamed up now."

Harry glared. "Never mind my blasted glasses. What about the rest of me?"

"Hm. Yes," Cedric sighed. "I'm sorry." His knuckles brushed along the bright pink heat of Harry's cheekbone. "I don't know if it helps, but I didn't want to stop."

"That doesn't help." Harry pouted even while a thrill shot through him at Cedric's admission.

"You're so young, Harry." Cedric traced the outline of Harry's pout. "And we have so much time."

"Unless a great big monster gets us tomorrow. Or in the next task. Or the one after." Harry sighed.

Cedric smiled tenderly. "We're the Hogwarts champions. What could possibly hurt us?" He leaned down again, placing another soft kiss on Harry's lips, then quickly drawing back. "Or keep us apart now?"

Harry licked his lips. "Aside from you, you mean?"

A soft laugh. "Not for long." Cedric's eyes were boring into Harry's. "Only for as long as I can manage to resist you."

Harry smiled mischievously. "You won't blame me if I try to make it difficult for you, will you?"

Cedric's eyes darkened. "I wish you wouldn't."

"Really?" Harry asked, disappointed.

"Yes." A sigh. "And no. Oh, Harry." Cedric continued to trace his cheek while a strand of his hair caressed the scar on Harry's forehead. "I shouldn't have come here tonight. I shouldn't have started anything."

"I think that might have been me," Harry admitted sheepishly. "And I'm glad you did come here tonight."

Cedric smiled. "Even if we have to stop?"

Harry made a little mewling sound. "We can sleep together though, can't we?" he asked. When Cedric blushed, he did as well, quickly clarifying, "I mean, we can just go to sleep here, and maybe you could hold me?"

Cedric gave a quick little nod, pink still splashed over his cheeks. "I'd like that very much." He lay back down beside Harry and drew him into his arms.

Harry snuggled against his side, the soft scarlet cotton of Cedric's pyjamas comfortable and already so familiar against his cheek. "You smell so nice," he whispered. "Like sleep and chocolate and cherries."

Cedric laughed softly. "You're crazy, but in a really adorable way." After a pause he said, "And you smell like vanilla ice-cream with little nut chips on top." They both giggled at that, wrapped tightly around each other. "Think you can sleep now?" Cedric whispered into Harry's hair.

"Mmm. Think so," Harry murmured against his neck, hooking his left foot over Cedric's. He sighed contentedly.

Cedric was awake a little longer than Harry. He wanted to enjoy holding him as long as he could, letting his mind wander into areas he should steer clear of. At least for now. But they had so much time, after all. He smiled and kissed Harry's hair softly, hugging the warm body in his arms more tightly.

The End... Continues in "Black Lake Interlude"


End file.
